Miami, FL
Miami Heat Legend: ‘The Dallas Mavericks Are In Trouble’
Dwyane Wade, 2006 NBA Finals MVP and three-time champion, gave his opinion on the Dallas Mavericks’ current situation on “Time Out with Dwyane Wade.”
“The Dallas Mavericks are in trouble,” Wade began. “The Dallas Mavericks are in trouble, I think I’ve seen 15 bodies go down.”
The Mavericks currently have seven players listed as “out” on their injury report, with the majority of them being stars and/or core rotation players for the team.
“When ‘The Why’ Network went live, we was talking about the Luka trade, but we was talking about AD going to Dallas, Kyrie Irving, we was talking about what that could be and this window is now, that window is…” Wade’s co-host attempted to finish his sentence and exclaimed “Closed.” Wade responded, [That window is] “Not now, it ain’t right now.”
Despite Luka Doncic having led the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals (and Western Conference Finals in 2022), the team decided to trade the superstar in what was considered to be one of the more shocking trades in the NBA’s history. Doncic was traded for Anthony Davis, who didn’t even get to finish his debut game with the Mavericks before suffering an injury. Davis hasn’t played since. Kyrie Irving, Doncic’s co-star in last year’s Finals appearance, tore his ACL in early March.
Wade, who averaged 30.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists against the Mavericks in two NBA Finals, had more to say about the decision they made this season.
“You looking at a ownership, a front office that made a bold, one of the boldest moves in NBA history, and put themselves, actually, in a great position for like the now, and then, everybody on our side is thinking ‘They don’t know what they doing’ now. Now it looks crazy, because you looking at the roster now that you bout to see the Dallas Mavericks have to, you know, kind of rebuild themselves back up … But right now, the future looks a little slower to where they’re trying to get back to.”
Tyreek Hill’s name has been mentioned in one hypothetical trade after another this offseason, but there’s another prominent Miami Dolphins player now getting that treatment.
In a unique mock draft where he suggested a trade at every slot in Round 1, Bill Barnwell of ESPN proposed the Miami Dolphins trade edge rusher Jaelan Phillips to the San Francisco 49ers, along with pick 13 for the 11th overall pick plus a fourth-round selection.
Even though Barnwell’s exercise prompted this suggested deal, trade speculation about Phillips likely will pick up as he will likely play the 2025 season on his fifth-year option.
Phillips is also coming off two major season-ending injuries, a torn Achilles in 2023 and a torn ACL in 2024.
We examine the pros and cons of a potential Phillips trade and the potential thought process behind Barnwell’s proposal.
The main pro for this potential Phillips trade is the Dolphins moving up in the first round of the upcoming draft. Barnwell cited the idea that the Dolphins should try to get in front of the Dallas Cowboys to select a defensive lineman.
This makes sense from the Dolphins’ perspective, as the team is incredibly thin on the defensive line, especially on the interior. Currently, the team has just two interior defensive linemen who are expected to play significant snaps next season.
Zach Sieler is a budding star, but Benito Jones is a limited role player who shouldn’t be expected to be highly productive.
Moving up from 13 to 11 to draft a player like Michigan’s Kenneth Grant could make sense for the Dolphins. Obviously, giving up Phillips to do it isn’t ideal, but the Dolphins have a lot more depth at edge rusher than on the interior.
Bradley Chubb is returning next season, and he’ll be paired with Chop Robinson after he had an excellent second half of the 2024 season. From a depth perspective, the Dolphins have Mohamed Kamara, William Bradley-King and Quinton Bell.
There’s a fair argument that the Dolphins need help at edge rusher, too, but they’re at least deeper at that spot.
The other pro of a potential Phillips trade is avoiding paying Phillips a significant long-term contract. As mentioned earlier, Phillips is slated to play on his fifth-year option this coming season, accounting for $13.3 million against the cap.
That’s a bargain if Phillips returns to his pre-injury levels, but that’s a tough bet to make. We know Phillips’ work ethic is incredible, but he’s played in just 12 games across the last two seasons.
It would be hard to blame to the Dolphins for not wanting to commit significant dollars to Phillips long-term. In Barnwell’s scenario, the Dolphins would get some value for Phillips without taking the risk that he would get hurt again in 2025.
There are several issues with Barnwell’s proposal and the idea of trading Phillips in general.
For starters, merely netting a fourth-round pick and moving up two spots in the draft is not much value for a player with Phillips’ upside. Barnwell noted that Phillips’ value in the trade would be equivalent to the 91st pick in the draft.
Phillips’ numbers from last season aren’t great because he played in only four games, but he recorded 22 sacks in his first three seasons, including 6.5 before his Achilles injury eight games into the 2023 season.
A player with that caliber of pass-rush upside is worth much more than the 91st pick in the draft, even with Phillips’ recent struggles to stay on the field. Plus, the Dolphins already have five picks on Day 3 of the draft, so adding an additional fourth-rounder doesn’t make sense.
While Phillips’ value in a vacuum is subjective, his potential value to the Dolphins this season isn’t. Although Miami has some edge depth, Phillips is arguably the best player in that room.
Robinson had a nice end to his rookie season but is still a developing player. Chubb has his own injury concerns, and none of the other depth players have anything close to Phillips’ pedigree. Simply put, the Dolphins need Phillips to play well this season.
Head coach Mike McDaniel and General Manager Chris Grier are under a lot of pressure to win games this coming season. The chance that the Dolphins get a player with more talent than Phillips in the draft or at this point in free agency is pretty low.
Even if they chose to replace Phillips with another edge rusher in Barnwell’s hypothetical trade-up, they’d choose between players like Shemar Stewart, Mike Green, Mykel Williams and James Pearce.
Those are good players and wouldn’t be bad picks, but they’re entirely unproven. The Dolphins aren’t in a position to be cycling through talent — they need as much talent as possible all over the roster.
The Dolphins trading Phillips isn’t the worst idea, but moving him to jump up two spots and add a sixth Day 3 pick doesn’t make Miami better in 2025, which should be the team’s focus.
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As an NFL free agent, former Oregon Ducks safety Jevon Holland signed a three-year deal worth $45 million with the New York Giants. After spending his first four seasons with the Miami Dolphins, Holland has now found a new home in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Holland made a comment on the difference between playing college football in Eugene compared to the NFL in Miami. The facilities, gear, and high-level of play at Oregon is treated just like any professional football organization. Possibly even better than most.
“I was coming from Oregon. We got all the fancy gear… I get to the old Dolphins facility. I’m like, this is the league?”
– Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland
New York will now have a pair of Ducks on the defensive side of the ball who are familiar with each other. Defensive lineman Kayvon Thibodeaux and Holland played with each other during the 2019 and 2020 campaigns at Oregon. Thibodeaux was named the Pac-12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2019 and was later drafted with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
“It’s going to be fun. Every time we’re around each other it’s always laughs. I’m really looking forward to running that back just like it was in 2019 in Oregon.”
– Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland
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The Giants’ defense allowed 24.4 points per game (ranked No. 24 in the NFL) and 47 total touchdowns (ranked No. 27 in the NFL) during the 2024 season. The secondary only snagged five interceptions last year, the second-lowest in the entire league just in front of the Cleveland Browns with four total.
“I think this environment is something that will allow me to be that, to grow. I absolutely think there’s plenty of room left to grow. I’m nowhere near my peak. I think the Giants have the exact environment I need and the personnel I need to be able to reach those new heights and as well lead a group of men and also create a winning culture. And the Giants have a history of a winning culture.”
– Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland
Holland played with the Ducks from 2018-20 and was selected by the Dolphins with the No. 36 pick in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Through four seasons playing at Autzen Stadium, he has collected 245 total tackles, 23 pass deflections, five interceptions, five forced fumbles, four sacks, four fumble recoveries, and one touchdown.
Plenty is seen from Holland’s playing style in future Duck safety Trey McNutt under coach Dan Lanning. Holland has passed on his collegiate jersey number (No. 8) to McNutt. The 6-0, 185-pound safety is the nation’s incoming No. 26 ranked overall recruit as well as No. 2 for his position in the 2025 recruiting class (per On3).
The start of the Miami Open men’s final between Novak Djokovic and unseeded 19-year-old Jakub Mensuk on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium was delayed 5½ hours from its 3 p.m. start time.
The players didn’t take the court until 8:37 p.m. due to rain and organizers deciding on completing the women’s doubles final.
The South Florida rain began at 12:50 p.m. during the women’s doubles final pitting Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider against Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato, with Andreeva and Shnaider leading 3-0 in the first set.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
The women’s players returned to the court at 5:30 p.m. after the rain stopped and the courts were readied by court-drying machinery. But rain began minutes later before warmups and the umbrella-toting players left the court again.
The women returned to the court an hour later and resumed play at 6:50 p.m. Andreeva and Schnaider went the distance, prevailing in a third-set match tiebreaker 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.
About three-quarters of the fans were still in the stadium. Players were told that the doubles championship ceremony would be abbreviated.
Seeded fourth, the 37-year-old Djokovic was seeking his seventh Miami Open title – which would tie him for the record with Andre Agassi.
Djokovic is also attempting to win his 100th career pro title, which would rank third after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).
Mensuk, of the Czech Republic, is playing his first ATP 1000 final. He was not quite 2 years old when Djokovic won his first Miami Open title in 2007. Djokovic also won Miami in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 – all coming at the old venue in Key Biscayne.
The age gap of 18 years and 102 days will be the largest in the history of ATP 1000-level final.
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